150 IS ‘supporters’ in South India

November 22, 2015 03:35 am | Updated November 17, 2021 03:13 am IST - NEW DELHI:

A brother and sister who received over Rs. 50,000 from a mysterious benefactor to prepare their travel documents, an MBA holder and his wife, a Google employee, brother of a SIMI activist killed by the police, and several engineering students.

There is no set pattern for the kind of Islamic State sympathisers under watch by Indian agencies, except that most of them are from the southern States, and many have an engineering background.

18 from Telangana

Agencies are believed to be monitoring up to 150 youths. Among them at least 18 are from Telangana, and many from Tamil Nadu.

“It may well be that these States have better surveillance. Or it could well be reflective of the reality,” an official said about the large number of south Indian Muslims being under the scanner.

In Telangana, a 21-year-old youth from a middle class family seems to be a key figure motivating people.

Among those who have bought into his efforts is his sister, who is probably willing to travel to Syria as a nurse. Their parents seem to have no idea of their secret life.

Officials suspect four others are also part of this group that may have made elaborate plans to go to Syria.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.